Most of us have had the pleasure of being a guest at someone’s home. Staying at someone else’s house always has its oddities: the way the house smells, where the bathroom is located, the sounds at night, the temperature, the pets. And no matter how well you know the host, it just never seems like you can be at ease like you would be at your own home. Should you leave the hallway light on? Can you leave the toiletries out on the counter? Even if you had a great time while being a guest, there’s just nothing better than coming home. Home is where you can leave your toothpaste out on the counter and eat Oreos in bed. Home is where you can let your guard down. Home is where you can be yourself. And so God invites us home. A place where there is breathing room, a place to get away from it all.

"You’ve always given me breathing room, a place to get away from it all, a lifetime pass to your safe-house, an open invitation as your guest. You’ve always taken me seriously, God, made me wonderful among those who know and love you."Psalm 61:3-5 (MSG)

God invites us to take a deep breath, slide into our favorite chair and wrap ourselves with his blanket of love and rest. This is the true home for your soul, a place where you can receive rest, peace, and sanity.

It's amazing how the stress, pressure, and noise of life can cloud our mind and heart that we can come to feel like strangers in our own home. It can even get to where we feel like strangers in our own skin. Yet God invites us: “Come home.” Come home to the One who created the concept of home. Come home to Him who is home. Come home to where you can truly be yourself, in the presence of the One that created you and loves you unconditionally, right now. Come home.

Will you come home today?

Dear Heavenly Father, I’d like to come home now. I do sometimes feel like a stranger in my own skin. Life demands so much. So I’m coming home. I accept your invitation. Amen.